


given or taken

by i_was_human



Category: Lost in Translation (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Madoka Magica Fusion, Angst, Catholicism, Churches & Cathedrals, Gen, Insanity, Junsu (Lost in Translation) & Kang Dongho | D.Min are Brothers, Murder, Murder-Suicide, Nihilism, Past Character Death, far less dark than the tags make it sound, no beta we die like junsu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:13:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28228185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_was_human/pseuds/i_was_human
Summary: "Don't be a fool," he simply tells him, taking another bite from the red fruit. "Not when you have so much in the palm of your hand.""Scripture?" Minsoo asks, voice dry and twisting, and Dongho shakes his head."Fact."
Relationships: Kang Dongho | D.Min & Kim Daehyun, Kang Dongho | D.Min & Lee Minsoo
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	given or taken

The first time Dongho meets Minsoo, he can see the expiry clock ticking over his head.

There are three kinds of magical boys, he's come to learn - the kind who still believe in hope, the kind who've had it beaten out of them, and the ones who never believed in it in the first place - and of the three, the first one is _infinitely_ more dangerous. 

Minsoo fancies himself a hero, Dongho thinks.

He'll lose that spark soon enough.

His boots drag along the burned-out remains of his father's church, the cool winter's breeze pushing back his too-long hair, and he tosses an apple into the air, gaze pinned on the choir's perch. 

People came here, once.

People came here - back when Dongho's father still preached, back when he would help him carry out their ceremonies, back when his mother would smile at him with food in her hands, back when Jun-

His boots scuff through a few fallen leaves, and he ducks his head, the memory still a dull ache.

Even all these years later, he can still hear Jun's distant laugher.

The door creaks open, massive slabs of oak scraping across worn-out carpet, and another pair of boots click against cracked tile, the sound far too loud in this empty tomb.

"What is this place?"

 _So the hero enters_ , Dongho distantly thinks, turning to stare at Minsoo. He stands out against the muted shades of red and tan, silver hair blowing in a faint wind, and Dongho pushes a few wayward strands of hair back, gaze drifting to the cracked cross above the entryway.

His father called him a witch.

It turned out to be true in the end, didn't it?

"My family's church," Dongho simply replies, gesturing to the cracked railings and splintered pews. "Isn't it gorgeous?"

"It's a dump," Minsoo simply states, and Dongho shrugs, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Maybe now. Back when I was a kid, though... it was something beautiful."

Back before his father's scripture changed. Back before he grew into the person he became.

Back before Dongho helped build the gleaming tower he ended up jumping from.

"Oh," Minsoo flatly states, reaching out to run a finger over one of the pews. "What happened?"

"My father died."

Minsoo's expression flickers for a moment, and Dongho turns once more, gaze landing on the massive cross at the center of the church. Stained-glass windows cast colored shadows over the empty space, and he exhales, taking a bite from his apple before stuffing it into his pocket. 

"Don't give me pity. I get enough already."

He stares at the cross for a moment longer, old _hatredgriefguilt_ coiling in his gut as he searches in vain for the swinging rope.

It's not there.

He tore it off, once, and hasn't been able to find it since.

Maybe it's for the best. Let the resentment die and all.

"...how?"

"Murder-suicide," Dongho flatly replies, gaze still pinned on the broken cross. "How else?"

Minsoo falls very silent for a long, long time, and Dongho closes his eyes, the phantom sounds of an organ ringing through the space. 

He used to play, once.

Once - back before the truth came out, back before his father lost his mind and painted the cream and emerald tiles a deep, deep red.

Once - back when people still came to their services of their own volition and not his stupid, stupid, _stupid_ wish.

Once - back when his family was still alive.

"Our father who art in heaven," he dryly recites, reaching out to brush his fingers over the bible on the lectern. "A bit too accurate, isn't it?"

Minsoo stares at him, but says nothing.

* * *

The next time he meets Minsoo, he's walking with death in his shadow.

There's a look in his eyes that Dongho recognizes well - one of someone who's had the world torn from under them - and he leans against the wall as the disgraced knight shambles forwards, silver hair eclipsing soulless eyes.

"What happened to you?"

Minsoo tilts his head, blank gaze shifting to meet Dongho's own, and the elder takes a bite out of his apple before tossing it into the air, catching it with practiced movements.

He doesn't need to ask. It's just a formality, really - after all, he can see it in Minsoo's eyes.

"People are monsters," the former knight simply replies, and Dongho tosses his apple in the air again.

"You're just figuring this out now?"

Minsoo tilts his head a bit further, and Dongho can see it - that drive for justice turned to _bitter, bitter nihilism_ \- and he catches the apple once more, taking another bite and swallowing.

"Don't give me that look."

Minsoo looks even more ghastly under the street lights, Dongho decides, the dim lighting throwing his hollowed cheeks and sunken eyes into sharp relief. It reminds him of the people he sees on the streets - the people starving in the gutters, begging desperately, hopelessly, for a bit of change or food.

(it reminds him of what he used to see in the mirror.)

But Minsoo - Minsoo _has everything_. He has friends, an older brother who cares, a house to live in and free food whenever he wants, and it's this that keeps Dongho from giving him one of his apples. 

After all, they're for the desperate, and Minsoo-

Minsoo's far from desperate.

"Don't be a fool," he simply tells him, taking another bite from the red fruit. "Not when you have so much in the palm of your hand."

"Scripture?" Minsoo asks, voice dry and twisting, and Dongho shakes his head.

"Fact."

* * *

The last time he meets Minsoo, he's standing in the middle of a battlefield.

One of his friends lies on the ground next to him, the gleaming remains of his soul gem strewn over the ground next to him, and the other one trembles against a lamppost, hands clutched to his throat as if that'll do anything to stop it.

The knight turns to mercenary, Dongho muses, landing on top of the nearby building. How fitting.

"Dae," Minsoo laughs, taking a step forwards, and _oh_ , it's like looking in a mirror, like seeing the madness that consumed his father once more in the flesh. "Dae, Dae, Daehyun- _ah_ , just _let go_."

Perhaps it's not the belief in hope that's dangerous, but the fall when someone loses it.

"Hyung," the boy - Daehyun? - breathes, tightening his grip on the gem around his throat. "Hyung, please-"

_~~"Daddy, please-"~~ _

Minsoo laughs, high and deranged and _broken_ , and he takes a step forwards, the blade of his knife dragging against the ground. "It's better this way, Daehyunnie, _don't you see_? We're- we're monsters, so we _deserve this_."

_~~"We've been tainted by the devil, Junnie-yah."~~ _

"Hyung," Daehyun begs, and Minsoo laughs once more, angling his sword towards the blond's clasped hands.

"Just close your eyes, Hyunnie. It'll be over in a second."

~~_"Just close your eyes, Junnie. It'll be over in a second."_ ~~

For an instant, Dongho feels like he's looking at his father.

It's the same breed of madness - the climb before the fall - and _god_ , Dongho never expected Minsoo's sense of justice could be warped this way, never thought his nihilism could combine with this twisted morality like this, never expected Minsoo could be this-

People snap, when pushed far enough.

Dongho may not know what started this, but he knows how to end it.

Minsoo's sword swings down, down, down, and gleaming fragments of a soul gem fly through the air.

* * *

"...you play?"

Two pairs of boots click against the blood-stained tile, and Dongho nods, gaze never straying from the shattered cross at the altar.

"Yeah. Well. Used to."

"...oh."

He comes to a stop at the shattered front railing, boots leaving dirty smears against the cracked marble, and he stares at the shattered stained glass for a moment, gaze tracing over each and every speck of blood.

"Hyung...?"

He turns, then, gaze landing on the person behind him, and _oh_ , he feels guilty for this - feels guilty for dragging yet another person out of Eden - but there's nothing else to be done, is there?

"Here," he states, tossing an uneaten apple to his companion. "Have one."

Daehyun stares at him for a moment, hollow eyes wide, and Dongho hops up on the railing, braid brushing against the fabric of his jacket. 

"Go ahead. Have it."

The younger boy takes a tentative bite, and Dongho turns his gaze to the entrance as Daehyun eats, fingers drumming against the cracked wood next to him.

Would his father approve of what he's done?

Would his father approve of this - him taking a kid away from their home and family so as to keep his own secret? Would his father approve of this - him promising a child things he himself can barely count on?

...then again, his father's judgement doesn't matter much, in the end.

"I play guitar," Daehyun murmurs, and Dongho turns to stare at him, mildly surprised.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

His father wouldn't approve of what he's done, he knows.

But then again, his father was always the first kind of person. 

He and Daehyun - they're the second. People who gave up on it long ago, people who's given up on _believing_ in favor of _being_.

...it might be nice, though. Not having to do it alone.

Only time will tell.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this while listening to given-taken and nothing else so uh
> 
> listen to that
> 
> also dongho did not kidnap dae, dae went with him willingly hjghjkdfgfd i didn't mention that but it's true
> 
> [twit](https://twitter.com/i_was_human_) | [lit fic discord!](https://discord.gg/CNunB74)


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